Customer Reviews

The White Plague

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

If you're looking for another "Dune", be warned: This book takes place on Earth, albiet an Earth that is about to go through some huge changes.

Our story opens with the death of the wife and children of brilliant biochemical researcher John O'Neill at the hands of terrorists. O'Neil is driven mad with grief and unleashes a biochemically engineered plague on the world, one that is 100% fatal to women.

While not Herbert's best book, it is still fantastic. Frank paints a horrific picture of governments racing first against each other to be the first to find a cure, and soon realilsing that a cure will only come with cooperation. Each country deals with the plague differently and the sweep of the story stretches around the world and back to the beginning as O'Neil admires his handiwork.

The story is quite action driven for a Herbert book. With most women dying off, the planet soon becomes unrecognizable. Will a cure be found in time? What form will it take? How will humanity survive? Herbert's trademark philosophical ruminations are there, just below the surface for plucking if you're interested. I will say, though, that the irony of thousand-year-old cultures having to re-write themselves overnight in the name of survival wasn't lost on me.

Even more tantalizing is the ending which will leave you wondering what will happen next. Not that there's a cliffhanger, but the world is so different you imagine a sequal would have done very well.

This is a really good book. It may drag a bit in spots and some of the science involved is a bit dated, but it is still very enjoyable. There's something wrong when a book as good as this one written by a author as popular as Herbert is out of print. Surely there must be some publishing company out there willing to cash in on the writings of a man whose works have been brought to the screen twice (soon to be three times, with "Children of Dune"). Anyone?

Until that happens, pick up a copy at a used bookstore. You won't regret it.

I read the first 5 reviews before writing this. I read this book quite some time ago and thought it was great. I waded through the original "Dune" and thought that this book was much more readable. I read all the criticism written about this book and I will tell you this. I leant this book to 5 different people and each of them read it straight through and could hardly put it down (myself included). Now I ask you, does that sound like an over rated book or a good book. I thought the book was very literary with one of the main characters being a catholic priest. The story is set in Ireland and has a strong Irish flavor. I have read a number of books by this author, I thought this story was one of his best!

Herbert weaves a wonderfully chilling tale of loss and revenge in this biotech centered sci-fi offering.

In the book, the main character (a molecular biologist) loses his wife to a random terrorist bombing in Ireland. Fed up with the endless violence and loss of innocent life due to chronic IRA-British conflicts in Ireland, the scientist uses methods of genetic engineering to develop a virus that he plans to release in Ireland. He sends notice to the world of his intentions, and releases the virus.

The virus kills only women. Ireland is devastated, but, of course, the virus escapes and the white plague becomes a pandemic.

The technology certainly exists to develop genetically engineered viral vectors (i.e., viruses that carry genetically engineered DNA or RNA). Is such a plague possible? Technically, yes. That's what makes the tale so chilling.

The spread of the disease in the book and efforts to protect uninfected women are described as effort after effort to stop the virus fail.

This is great summer time reading for anyone who enjoys techno-sci-fi books. The story line is convincing, the scientific premises of the book are within the reach of feasibility, and the potential consequences of such an act are mind boggling.

Please re-issue this book. There are certainly people out there who would enjoy it.

5 stars!

Alan Holyoak

Once again, Frank Herbert dives into humanity full force and thrusts the reader into a twisted surrealism that makes you unable to put down the book and continue turning the pages. This is a dark book with a twist on genetics. It is truly amazing to read this book and realize how long ago Mr. Herbert wrote it! Anyway, the book focuses on the life of a tormented scientist after he witnesses the death of his family in a bombing. His goal: to destroy humanity since he has no faith in humanity himself anymore. An age old story right...WRONG! It is the method in which this man decides to bring humanity to its knees that is so compelling. Try a little Frank Herbert without the Sci-Fi... you might like it! I know I did!

This book should be getting some extra attention in this day and age of extreme terrorism and the threat of biological weapons. While certainly just fiction, and of course, over the top in its premise, this book is a good solid science fiction novel.
The main character is plunged into a world of revenge when his family is killed by terrorists and he comes up with an extreme punishment for the world; a plague that kills women only. Men are unharmed carriers of the disease. Hey, I said it was "out there" in it's premise...
The main part of the story takes place in Ireland, where it all starts with a car bomb, with an adventurous journey taken by the "most evil man in history", an under cover terrorist and a team of a priest and his young aide. The contemplation of the characters on this journey make up a good part of the story, and Herbert does a good job on letting the reader see the different sides and thoughts of each person.
While best known for Dune, which is a masterpiece, Herbert writes a solid book here that bears no resemblance to the former, but certainly could be made into a good movie in it's own right.

Herbert crafts the finest social science fiction I've ever read. What makes this book excellent is the way you see events from all sides. Herbert handles complex characters and situations masterfuly. From the IRA terrorist to the biological terrorist, the villain and the hero exist in everyone at the right time under the right circumstances. To anyone who thinks this is just a macho melee, I would point out the power and reverence women gain from the outcome, as if these were possibly the first Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit (my own leap--this book is completely apart from the Dune books aside from the great craftsmanship of the author.) Readers should also try the Dune books, Whipping Star, The Dosadi Experiment, and Man of Two Worlds. Any Herbert book is a good one, but those are some of his finest work.

It is tremendously frightening that this might someday soon become a book for our times. A molecular biologist watches from a building window as his wife and two daughters get blown to bits during a terrorist bombing on the street below. This triggers a vengeful madness that culminates in his developing a disease and infecting those he sees as responsible: The countries of Ireland, Libya, and England.

I have met many Frank Herbert fans online, especially on usenet. There is some argument as to what is Herbert's greatest work. Many who have never read the White Plague insist that nothing could top Dune. Many who have read Dune insist that The White Plague is his crowning achievement.

I leave it to you to decide.

The premise of the book (a virus that kills only women and targeted at specific countries) is interesting and the book itself is full of thought-provoking comments about revenge, social interaction, xenophobia, the power of science, and the role of religion.

There was also a lot of focus on the plight and anger of the Irish at the British and, before them, the Romans. I certainly would have gotten more from this aspect if I knew more about Irish history or had Irish in my ancestry.

_Dune_ and the books that followed it were much more engrossing. Herbert, in this rare foray into "contemporary" literature, is thorough as always in his analysis of the workings of society and relationships among people.

There's no doubt that it's a well-written book, but it was definitely a book where I was ok missing a day of reading it. Definitely not light "summer" reading but at the end of the day it's worth the read.

A very good book which suffers from problems of pacing. Herbert seems to want to comment on the bureaucracy that hinders co-operation between governments, but fails to create many memorable characters or situations in that arena, the end result being that these sections tend to feel like padding.

That said, the rest of the book - the descent into madness (and struggle between the real and adopted personae) of the main character, as well as his ensuing travels and adventures are exceptionally well done and exciting. For sheer plotting and writing, I would give this book five stars, but I feel that the lack of focus hurt and slowed down the story. I would have preferred to hear more about what happened in those unfortunate areas burned away pragmatically by Newfire than to follow the rather dry government functionaries and scientists who are searching - very, very slowly - for a solution.

Also, I think anyone who is a fan of Herbert through the Dune books would do well to try to forget who wrote this novel. This is an apples and oranges comparison, and when apples are your favorite, oranges will always suffer in comparison no matter how good they are.

I'm not a regular books-on-tape person, but I missed this book, and wanted to read it again, and when I couldn't find a copy of the printed version, I decided to try it out on tape. While this is no secret, the recording is of a _very_ abbreviated version of the book. However, it was well done, and I suspect that if I hadn't already read the book, I might well not have noticed that anything felt like it was "missing". The pieces that were read fit well together, and I thought the reader did a good job with voices and such.

If you're looking for the complete work, find a copy of the book somewhere, but if you want only to get the basic story, with a sampling of the passages written, then this recording will do nicely.